Crucial connections: three modems show their speed and versatility in channeling information - Buyers Guide

Nation's Business, Dec, 1996 by Tim McCollum

Three modems show their speed and versatility in channeling information.

Modems aren't just for sending data and faxes between computers over telephone lines anymore. A new dimension--voice--enables office and portable computers to double as speakerphones and answering machines.

Another category of modems, called terminal adapters, can transmit data at up to 128 kilobits per second (Kbps), or almost four times the current top speed of 33.6 Kbps for conventional modems. Adapters have been on the market for several years and now cost only about twice as much as conventional modems, but they require telephone connections using advanced communications technology known as ISDN--integrated services digital network. Though ISDN service is not universal nationwide, its availability to phone customers is increasing rapidly

Nation's Business has been working recently with some conventional modems; three have proved noteworthy.

* The Sportster Winmodem, by U.S. Robotics Corp. ($120; 1-800-342-5877), is designed to let users of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating system connect with an on-line service or the Internet quickly and easily. Under Windows 95, the user merely plugs in the modem, and the operating system sets it up automatically. Under Windows 3.1, software provided by U.S. Robotics does the setup.

On the performance side, the Winmodem is compatible with the V.34 standard, which means that with the latest internal software, it can reach speeds of 33.6 Kbps. It also automatically corrects transmission errors and compresses transmitted data for smooth, reliable operation. And it can fax documents at 14.4 Kbps, minimizing the costs of long-distance faxing.

* The VoiceSurfr, from Motorola Inc. ($175; 1-800-426-6336), could appeal to small-business owners who work at least some of the time from a home office. The VoiceSurfr is a 28.8-Kbps internal modem with data, fax, and voice capabilities.

Like most V.34 internal data and fax modems, the VoiceSurfr has a built-in port that facilitates high-speed transmissions from the computer and can communicate with standard fax machines at speeds up to 14.4 Kbps. Voice functions include speakerphone, answering machine, voice mail, and caller ID, allowing a computer to double as a phone system. The VoiceSurfr also has a fax-on-demand capability that allows callers to dial in to the computer to request fax documents.

Motorola is marketing the VoiceSurfr as a messaging and Internet-access tool as well. The modem comes bundled with SmithMicro's QuickLink Message Center software, which handles incoming calls and records voice mail.

And Motorola's paging software allows users to send text messages from a personal computer to alphanumeric pagers, which can display short text messages in addition to the phone number of the calling party.

* For entrepreneurs who work on the road, sending and receiving data using a cellular telephone tethered to a modem-equipped portable computer is an appealing prospect. In practice, however, cellular data communication hasn't been very reliable, and getting the computer, modem, and cellular phone working together has been complicated--and frustrating.

The Cellular Data/Fax Modem, from Hitachi PC Corp. ($280; 1-800-555-6820), may solve many of the reliability problems in cellular data communications. This 14.4Kbps modem plugs into the industry-standard slot in all of today's notebook computers, though it has been factory-configured to work easiest with Hitachi's C and M series notebooks. A cable connects the modem to the cellular phone for making calls.

Hitachi overcomes the reliability problem by adopting a new communications-industry standard, called MNP-10EC, which makes accurate high-speed data transfers possible. The modem works with cellular phones from Motorola, Ericsson, and General Electric.

No matter how good a modem is, its value is negligible without first-rate communications software. Fortunately, such software programs have come a long way since the cryptic text-based DOS programs that were common as recently as two years ago. Graphical programs that work in the Windows operating environment are the norm now, and many excellent programs are available for sending and receiving electronic mail or faxes or accessing a local area network via the telephone.

For example, the growing use of the Internet has spawned Internet e-mail programs such as Eudora Pro 3.0, from Qualcomm Inc. ($89; 1-800-238-3672). Eudora Pro enables a computer user to put messages on the Internet through an Internet-access provider company

Software such as WinFax Pro 7.5, from Symantec Corp. ($99; 1-800-441-7234), now allows users to send and receive faxes by modem from their desktop or portable computers.

FocalPoint, from Global Village Communications ($129; 1-800-736-4821), provides a single in box and out box for email, faxes, and voice messages, making it easier for a business to keep track of all of its incoming and outgoing communications.

Accessing the Internet or a distant computer network has become easier as well. Many computer retail stores sell Internet-access software such as Internet in a Box, from the Spry Inc. division of CompuServe ($65; 1-800-557-9614). Two popular software tools for browsing the World Wide Web--Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 (1-800-426-9400) and Navigator 3.0, from Netscape Communications (1-800-638-7483)--can be purchased in computer retail stores or downloaded from the Internet.